What a wonderful Anniversary week we enjoyed! Firstly we enjoyed the morning tea organised by St Luke’s Fellowship with special guest speaker, the Mayor of Lake Macquarie – Cr Kay Fraser.  Several guests and other members of St Luke’s accepted the invitation to attend and all enjoyed the Mayor’s sharing of her life journey from when she was young as well as touching on her current role.  A great morning!  Then on Friday St Luke’s hosted the World Day of Prayer Service with this year’s  order of service having been written by the Women of Vanuatu. The church was decorated with many items depicting  the theme of Vanuatu.  The guest preacher was Rev Simon Hansford, the Moderator of the NSW.ACT Synod.  Another inspirational morning.  

The week then culminated in the special 50th Anniversary Celebration Services on Sunday morning, with the Moderator being the guest preacher.  The anniversary lunch was a highlight with 103 persons booked in including our State and Federal Members of Parliament and other special guests.  It was a highlight to have several past  members join us for either a service and/or lunch including some travelling from Sydney, Brisbane and Adelaide.  And a wonderful blessing to be able to renew these friendships.  The catered meal was a great treat!  During the lunch Keith Hudson read a special poem that he had prepared about the history of St Luke’s and Michael Turner taught us how to ‘sign’ (seeing we cannot sing at the moment) happy birthday to St Luke’s.  Both lots of fun!  Alison Gill made a presentation about the mission and ministry of our congregation over past years.  We give thanks to God for 50 years of St Luke’s Uniting Church, Belmont.  A big thank you to all those who helped in any way at all to make this Anniversary so special.